The pool competition of the World Aquatics Championships Fukuoka 2023 moves on to Day 5 in the U.S. time zones (Thursday morning in Japan) with another slate of exciting swims on the docket.  

Here’s a closer look at the athletes entering tonight’s prelims session: 

Women’s 100m Freestyle
Torri Huske won bronze last year in this event following Simone Manuel’s golds in the prior two world championships, so the U.S. has a history of success in this event. Prior to 2017, the last medal in the event was Natalie Coughlin’s tie for silver in 2005. Douglass also won the first gold medal for the U.S. squad earlier this week in the 200m individual medley.  

• Athletes: Kate Douglass (Pelham, N.Y./New York Athletic Club) and Abbey Weitzeil (Santa Clarita, Calif./California Aquatics) 
• Weitzeil searching for first individual gold at a World Championships meet. 
• This marks the first time Douglass will swim a freestyle event on an international stage since finishing 11th in the 50m freestyle at the 2017 FINA World Junior Championships. 

Men’s 200m Backstroke
Fresh off his gold medal in the 100m backstroke, Ryan Murphy will look to repeat last year’s gold medal in the 200. He currently owns the fastest time in the world this year by nearly half a second. Destin Lasco will make his senior-level, international debut and holds the third-fastest time in the world this year. 

• Athletes: Ryan Murphy (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./California Aquatics) and Destin Lasco (Linwood, N.J./California Aquatics) 
• Murphy aims to medal in the event for the fourth-consecutive World Championships. 
• Should Murphy win gold, he would become the third American since 2001 to win back-to-back titles in the event, joining Aaron Peirsol and Ryan Lochte. 
• Seven of the last nine World Championships (‘05, ‘07, ‘09, ‘11, ‘13, ‘17, ‘22) have seen both Americans stand on the podium in this event. 

Women’s 200m Breaststroke
Lilly King and Kate Douglass enter the event as the defending gold and bronze medalists, respectively, in the event. They own the second- and third-fastest time in the world right now (King 2:20.95 and Douglass 2:21.22).  

• Athletes: Lilly King (Evansville, Ind./Indiana Swim Club) and Kate Douglass (Pelham, N.Y./New York Athletic Club) 
• If King repeats her title, she will join Yuliya Efimova, Leisel Jones and Ágnes Kovács as the only women to win back-to-back world titles in the 200m breaststroke. 

Men’s 200m Breaststroke
Matt Fallon will make his senior-level, international debut when he swims the 200m breaststroke today. He currently owns the fourth-fastest time in the world. Matheny is competing in his first world championships as well and finished seventh in the 100m breaststroke earlier this week. 

• Athletes: Matt Fallon (Warren, N.J./Athens Bulldog Swim Club/University of Pennsylvania) and Josh Matheny (Pittsburgh, Pa./Indiana Swim Club/Indiana University) 
• Kevin Cordes’ silver in 2015 is the only medal by an American in this event in the past decade. 
• If Matheny goes sub-2:08, he will become the eighth American in history to do so. 

Watch Day 5 prelims on Peacock at 9:30 p.m. ET tonight and semifinals/finals at 7:00 a.m. ET tomorrow. The morning’s session will feature semifinals in the women’s 100m freestyle, men’s and women’s 200m breaststroke and the men’s 200m backstroke. Finals will include the women’s 200m butterfly, men’s 100m freestyle, men’s 200m individual medley and the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay. 

More than 1,110 swimmers from 192 countries and the World Aquatics Refugee Team have descended on the city of Fukuoka, Japan to compete in the swimming portion of the 20th edition of these world championships. The World Aquatics Swimming Championships medal table, sorted by federation and by athlete, can be found here. 

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